How deep is the turbulence created when a category five hurricane is over an ocean?

"If the distance between subsequent wave crests is 100 meters [328 feet], then below about 50 meters [164 feet] you won't have any of that orbit motion," Storlazzi told Live Science. However, if there is a very long wave length, then this circular moving water can reach all the way down to the continental shelf, which can be hundreds of feet below the water's surface, he said.

What lies beneath

The chaos starts at the ocean's surface. The hurricane's winds blow against the water, creating waves. As the waves grow taller, they develop more area for the wind to press against, which in turn makes the waves even larger, Storlazzi said.

The water below each wave moves in a circular motion, which sets off another, small circle below it. To visualize it, think of a hula hoop with a somewhat smaller hula hoop below it, continuing until the hoops get very small.

Scientists have learned that these stacked-hoop disturbances - that is, water moving in a circular motion, setting off another circular orbit below it - are only half the distance in length from one wave peak to the next.

"If the distance between subsequent wave crests is 100 meters [328 feet], then below about 50 meters [164 feet] you won't have any of that orbit motion," Storlazzi told Live Science. However, if there is a very long wave length, then this circular moving water can reach all the way down to the continental shelf, which can be hundreds of feet below the water's surface, he said.

"When those orbital motions [get] near the bottom, they can't go through the seabed, so they tend to flatten out," Storlazzi said. "Instead of being circular, they're very horizontal, just back and forth. And those cause a lot of stress, or force imparted on the seabed."

This extremely fast horizontal movement within the ocean can kick up sediment and even move large objects - "you always hear about old sunken ships being unburied in storms because you have very strong horizontal motions," Storlazzi said.

The hurricane's powerful winds can also mix the ocean's cold, deep waters with warmer, shallow waters. "When hurricanes propagate across the ocean, they tend to leave a cooler trail of water in their wake," Storlazzi said. "They're pulling up deep water that's usually colder than the surface water, which is warmed by the sun."